Paper dispenser



March 4, 1941. N. B. CURRIER PAPER DISPENSER Filed Feb. 9, 1938- Patented Mar. 4, 1941 UNITED STATES PAPER DISPENSER Neil B. Currier, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor of one-half to Lynn H. McClintock and one-half to Florence L. McClintock, both of Los Angelcs,

Calif.

Application February 9, 1938, Serial No. 189,574

'7 Claims.

paper and similar material to permit the ready dispensing of said material in sheets as for use in wrapping merchandise.

Holders of this general type for dispensing such material in sheet form have long been in use, these commonly including means for supporting a roll of wrapping material and a tearing blade which is yieldably pressed against the roll. When the sheet material is torn from a roll held in one of these devices, it is pulled against the tearing blade. This produces a tendency for the blade to be lifted out of contact with the roll by the pull exerted on the paper in the tearing operation. In holders of this type put out heretofore it has always been necessary to compromise in selecting the amount of pressure with which the tearing blade is pressed against the roll. The reason for this is that the pressure with which the tearing blade is pressed against the roll varies as the diameter of the roll decreases, whereas the requirements for tearing any particular kind of wrapping material are substantially uniform. Furthermore, a given holder must often be used to hold a roll of wrapping paper which is much heavier than the kind of wrapping paper normally used in that holder and which therefore has a much higher tearing coeflicient.

It is an object of my invention therefore to provide a paper holder and dispenser for holding paper in the roll form and dispensing it in sheets, which is adaptable to handle wrapping material in roll form and dispense this in sheets and which is readily adaptable to perform this function with various weights of wrapping material which differ substantially in tearing coefficient.

It is another object of my invention to provide a holder and dispenser for Wrapping material in roll form which is economical in construction, 40 which has a pleasing, appearance to the eye, and

which is durable and efiicient in operation.

In this present application, as distinguished from my copending application Serial No. 189,575, the subject matter claimed relates to a-paper dispenser embodying the characteristic feature of a variable spring .tensioning mechanism in combination with other parts as hereinafter described, although this statement is not to be construed as a limitation of any of the claims accorded their proper range of equivalents.

The manner of accomplishing the foregoing objects as Well as further objects and advantages will be made manifest in the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

This invention relates to holders for rolls of Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional detailed view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a View similar to Fig. 2, illustrating the process of assembly of my invention.

Fig. 4 is a transverse horizontal sectional view taken 'on the line 44 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a detailed perspective View of the combined fulcrum and spring follower element of my invention.

I shall now refer specifically to the drawing in which the preferred embodiment of my invention there illustrated comprises a paper dispenser Hi. This dispenser is adapted to support a roll H of paper or other wrapping material and dispense this in sheets for use in wrapping merchandise or for other purposes. This dispenser includes a pair of end standards 12 which are reverse duplicates of each other, these standards having foot plates 13 for mounting the dispenser H) on a table or the like and a head plate I4 which connects their upper ends. Each standard I2 has front and rear flanges l6 and I1 formed thereon and a slot I8 is formed in each standard so as to open through the flange 1-6 thereof, these slots being adapted to support opposite ends of an axle ii! of the roll I I.

Secured to the outer face of each of the standards I2 is a housing plate 24 forming a housing chamber 25 having a floor 26 which is part of the plate 24. Provided in the floor 26 is an aperture 21, the purpose of which will be made clear hereinafter.

The upper portions of the flanges I6 'are sufiiciently narrow to form slots 39 through which a pair of :tear-blade-supporting arms 3| extend into the chamber 25. The arms 3! are pivotally mounted on trunnions 32 which extend through suitable holes in the housing plates 24. Rigidly fixed upon the arms it is a tear blade 33, the lower edge of which comes to rest against the outer surface of the roll ll, when the arms 3! swing downwardly.

Provided on the arms 31 on the opposite sides of the trunnions 32 from the tear blade 33 are rollers 35.

Pivotally mounted on each of the housing plates 24, within the housing chambers 25 is a spring follower 48 which is stamped of sheet met.- al in the form shown in- Fig. 5 so as to have a hole at its low-er end through which a pin 42 extends for piv-otally securing the follower to the housing plate 2 3. Each of the followers 40 has a screw guide cup 43 at its free end and, ad-

jacent the hole M, the follower has a fulcrum lug 44. Extending through a suitable aperture 45 in the flange I! of each standard [2 is a pressure screw 46 which screws through a nut 41 located just within the flange l1 and has a half round head 48 on its inner end which fits into the guide cup 43 of the follower 4i], and which has a knurled manipulating head 49 on its outer end.

The dispenser ID has leaf springs 60 which are adapted to .be assembled with the balance of the structure as shown in Fig. 3. Here it is seen that any desired number of springs 60 from one to three or more may be inserted upwardly through the aperture 2'! in the floor 26 with the springs passing to the rear of the fulcrum lug 44 and in advance of the screw guide cup 43 of the spring follower 40. When extended up to their full length through the aperture 21, the upper ends of the springs 60 are disposed close to the top of the chamber 25 opposite the rollers 35 of the arms 3 I.

The device H] is preferably inverted while inserting the springs 60, in order to retain the springsfill within the chambers 2-5 and prevent their dropping out through the apertures 21. A retaining strap 65 is then inserted into .the chamber 25 of each of the standards l2 as shown in Fig. 3, these straps extending across the apertures 21 and lying on the chamber floor 26 as shown in Fig. 2. The dispenser I is now .completely assembled and the screws 46 are manually rotated. to advance these screws inwardly. This forces the screw guide cups 43 of the spring followers 40 inwardly, as shown in Fig. 2', so as to apply a controllable pressure against middle portions of the springs 60.

In order to place a roll ll of wrapping material in the dispenser I0, the tearing blade 33 is seized and swung upwardly thus bringing the arms 3| into the dotted line position shown in Fig. 2. The axle I9 is then inserted through the middle of the roll H and the roll placed in the machine with the ends of the axle resting in the slots [8. The tear blade 33 is now swung downwardly and allowed to come to rest on the roll I l as shown in Fig. 2.

In case this has not already been done, an adjustment of the pressure with which the tearin blade 33 is held against the roll I I is now effected by manipulation of the thumb screws 49. To facilitate properly tearing the paper, of course, the tearnig blade 33 must be held down with sufficient force to maintain it against the roll While the tearing takes place. The adjustable feature of my invention permits the tear blade 33 to be yieldably held down by approximately the same pressure when the roll II has its maximum diameter as well as later on when the diameter of this roll has been greatly reduced by the dispensing of paper therefrom.

The adjustable feature has additional merit in that it is frequently desirable to use the dispenser H) for dispensing wrapping materials differing substantially in weight. Wrapping materials of different weights vary in tearing coeflicient, the latter being the tension necessary to effect a rupture of the paper when tearing this across the tear blade 33. Thus, while at one time it may be desired to use the device [0 to dispense a roll II of wrapping paper of a given weight, at another time it may be desirable to substitute for this roll a roll of paper of substantially lighter Weight or of substantially heavier weight than that previously dispensed. The adjustable feature of the dispenser l0 renders it readily adaptable to the dispensing of wrapping material of any weight which is available in roll form for inserting into this device.

What I claim is:

1. In a holder adapted to support wrapping material in roll form and dispense this in sheets, the combination of: a pair of side standards for supporting a roll of wrapping material therebetween; housing means on said standards; a tear blade; a pair of arms provided on said tear blade and extending into said housing means; means for pivotally mounting said arms on said standards; leaf springs provided in said housing means, corresponding ends of said springs bearing against said arms; screw means for applying a variable pressure under manual control against central portions of said springs; and fulcrum means in said housings engaging the opposite ends of said springs and rendering the pressure exerted by said screw means effective for yieldably swinging said arms and pressing said tear blade against said roll of wrapping material.

2. A roll paper dispenser comprising standards, roll paper supporting means thereon, arms pivotally mounted on the standards, a tear blade carried by the arms, leaf springs for exerting pressure on the arms to yieldably urge the tear blade against a roll of paper held by the supporting means, and means to variably tension the springs, said means each comprising a spring follower pivotally mounted at one end on one of the standards, a fulcrum lug adjacent said end of the spring follower to retain one end of the spring, the other end of the spring bearing against the arm, the opposite end of the spring follower engaging the spring in opposition to the force of the fulcrum lug and arm, and means to advance or retract the said spring engaging end of the spring follower.

3. A roll paper dispenser comprising standards, roll paper supporting means thereon, arms pivotally mounted on the standards, a tear blade carried by the arms, leaf springs for exerting pressure on the arms to yieldably urge the tear blade against a roll of paper held by the supporting means, and means to variably tension the springs, said means each comprising a spring follower pivotally mounted at one end on one of the standards, a fulcrum lug adjacent said end of the spring follower to retain one end of the spring, the other end of the spring bearing against the arm, the opposite end of the spring follower engaging the spring in opposition to the force of the fulcrum lug and arm, and a screw bearing against the spring engaging end of the spring follower to advance it against the spring.

4. In a roll paper dispenser including standards supporting pivoted arms carrying a tear blade, leaf springs engaging the arms to yieldably urge the tear blade against a roll of paper held in the dispenser, and a spring mounting and tension adjusting means comprising a spring follower pivoted to the standard, the said spring follower being formed with a spring fulcrum lug adjacent the pivot and a spring engaging element at the other end, and means to adjustably urge the spring engaging element against the spring.

5. A roll paper dispenser comprising housings, arms pivoted in the housings and project-able outside of same, the arms carrying a tear blade, leaf springs anchored at one end in the housings and at the other end engaging the arms to urge the tear blade against a roll of paper in the dispenser, and spring tensioning devices engaging I the sprnigs wti-hin the housings and having a manually controllable part mounted on the housings and extending outside thereof to vary the tension of the springs.

6. A roll paper dispenser comprising housing arms pivoted in the housing-s and projectable outside of same, the arms carrying :a tear blade, leaf springs anchored at one end in the housings and at the other end engaging the arms to urge the tear blade against a roll of paper in the dispenser, spring tensioning devices engaging the springs within the housings including spring followers and adjusting screws to manually posi tion the spring followers, the heads of the screws being accessible to turn same from outside the housings. i

7. A roll paper dispenser comprising housings, arms pivoted in the housings and projectable outside of same, the arms carrying a tear =blade, leaf springs in the housings engaging the arms to urge the tear blade against a roll of paper in the dispenser, spring followers pivoted in the housings engaging the springs at separated points on opposite sides to force the springs against the arms, and means to rotate the spring followers relative to the springs to vary the tensioning 10 efiect of the spring followers.

NEIL B. CURRIER. 

